A black and white world

I decided against uploading these portraits separately, simply because each of these girls tell a similar story of a black and white world.
The first portrait illustrates Monique Lombardo casting her reflection above the pond whilst causing a ripple. Each wave symbolises each problem – from starting university to her parents’ divorce – and how difficult it was for her to brighten her world.

“When my parent’s divorced, I felt alone. Like I was here, but my mind was constantly somewhere else”

The idea of Monique trying to ‘recolour’ her world is emphasised through the black and white background, as it gives a surreal feeling, emphasising her loneliness when trying to overcome these reoccurring problems.

Looking at all three of the images, you can clearly see the middle portrait of Sofia Casanova is different. I’ve purposely made Sofia blend in with her background, making only her tired eyes show above her umbrella.

“I damaged myself in more ways than one. Depression hit me hard and no one realised until I fought against them. But eventually, that’s what made it worse…I was unnoticeable”

The bags under her eyes are emphasised by the brightness of this umbrella and therefore showing the only hope of ‘re-colouring’ her world is through the bright red. Sofia has overcome many life-threatening difficulties, many of these still haunting her. So for that reason the umbrella, which is full of colour, acts as a security blanket, hiding Sophia from the world.

The third portrait is of Tracy Brustanante. Once again, she is the colour in a black and white world. Unlike the other two portraits, Tracy is concentrating on her phone, rather than her environment, therefore the portrait portrays Tracy’s obsessive nature over technology. Tracy’s personality and interests came out in this image, as she was once known as the go-to guide for downloading

“You kind of want to forget it all, and for me, having the security of my phone/iPod..I feel safe from the world”